Better Together
by Caribous
Summary: Nico Yazawa sees a young pianist playing in Akihabara - is it her?
1. Akihabara Maki

**Summary:**

 _Nico Yazawa sees a young pianist playing in Akihabara - is it her?_

 **Chapter 1: Akihabara Maki**

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

 **It's hard to see clearly when your eyes are filled with tears.**

Still, that posture, that loneliness. The purity of the singing. And, of course, the song - Aishiteru Banzai was the song Nico would never, ever be able to forget.

She looked impossibly young, and as beautiful as ever. Nico noticed Maki had grown her hair out, and lost a little weight. Was that a bad sign? Was she skipping eating now that she was finishing medical school? Wasn't she a resident, already? If so, what on Earth was Maki doing playing a solo concert in Akihabara? And without - Nico looked around - any signs or anything saying what was up.

a

Nico wiped her eyes and, drawn by the music more than her urge to turn on her heels and flee could overcome, she got closer. Something was wrong, she felt. It was as if someone had met Cocoa and mistaken her for Nico. As strange as it seemed, it was a Maki look-alike playing Maki's signature song, she realized. But with the same lonely feeling, the same self-containment Maki had - all those years ago in the music room.

 **"Honestly, I was relieved, if anything, Nico-chan, when you didn't confess before graduating.**

 **Something like a romance between girls, with you, of all people?** **Not even in the same city,**

 **to boot. And after knowing you less than a year? I saw how you felt and I got your hints ,**

 **Nico.** **I simply brushed it all under the carpet." . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .**

Nico had been unable to hold back when she visited Otonokizaka after starting college. She'd broken down in tears and confessed. Maki had rejected her and listed several reasons. The bottom line, she said, was that if Nico and her had been the same age, they might have been as close as Rin and Hanayo after a year or two, but not dating. But as it was, the differences:

 _Nico, despite being poor and with dim prospects, hadn't even bothered planning for after graduation until it was a month away; Maki was already pre-accepted to a few universities when she started high school._

 _Nico was determined to be an entertainer; Maki was going to be a doctor and run a hospital._

 _Nico was sure of her attraction to girls, to Maki; Maki'd never given it any thought and was still assuming at some point she'd marry, take a year off to have a child, then hire a nanny and go back to work_.

... made it all impossible

And that, of course, made Nico's happiness ... also impossible.

Why am I torturing myself? I need to walk away, she thought.

* * *

Riko didn't know why this song, above all others, spoke to her so much. Unlike Dia, it's not like she was a µ's fan-girl. Obviously, she'd had a lot in common with µ's composer, Nishikino Maki, but she didn't recall anyone saying that woman had been in love with their leader Honoka or anything.

And what did "Cheers for loving" mean? Well, the lyrics for idol songs were stupid. And Maki hadn't even been the µ's lyricist. It's more like screw you for loving, you idiot, she thought. It was a great way to have more pain than you'd ever imagined, without anything good happening. So why did she play it? To torture yourself, she decided. Tears filled her eyes, but she didn't exactly need to see to play this song.

 **Riko ... chan! Um ... it's always been You. I'm sorry, but that's how it's always been. I know what I said, that I love Riko,  
** **but ... ummm ... I didn't mean it that way. It's not that you're not beautiful and it's not like I don't ... notice. And it's not  
** **like I don't think you're wonderful. I guess You-chan and I have a lot of things between us that don't get said, that I was  
bad not to bring up. I think I hurt her, too, not doing that. She told me I made her so insecure she was crying a lot. But  
pretending I don't love her, that I don't want to be her girlfriend for as long as she'll have me - no, I don't want that. I  
wish, I wish I'd said something like that when you transferred in and joined Aqours, Riko-chan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . **

How did you compete with the childhood friend who had spent her whole life sacrificing everything else because she loved Chika? It turns out, you didn't.

And ... oh great. Riko was no Dia, but when she wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, she immediately recognized that among the handful of people watching her was one of the most distinctive former members of µ's itself. Yep, right there, and if Riko wasn't mistaken, also crying, was Yazawa Nico. What a crappy miracle

Okay, so what Dia and Ruby had said about Yazawa was probably true, and if so, hearing the signature song of the girl she'd loved fruitlessly for years was probably almost as painful to the singer and actress as it was for Riko to be playing it. Almost? Probably worse. For all she knew, Nishikino might have played that song here in Akihabara, all those years ago. To hell with this: she stopped abruptly. She gestured "come here" to Yazawa.

* * *

The music stopped abruptly. When the player lifted her head, Nico could see that she, too, had tears in her eyes. She looked right at Nico and made a "come here" gesture. Normally, Nico wouldn't have obeyed; if she was found out, she didn't want the crowds to bother her. And given her modest but solid success at both singing and acting, she shouldn't be at the beck and call of what she now saw was a high-school girl. But whatever force had pinned her in place drew her towards the girl, and the piano.

"Sing with me. Something appropriate," It wasn't Maki's voice, but it had a lot of the same feeling to it. The mysterious girl patted the place next to her on the piano stool. "I'm a school idol. Our group is called Aqours. We were inspired by your group. My heart was broken. You can relate to that. Pick something appropriate."

Sometimes Nico caught up with Hanayo and she prided herself on not losing to her in terms of idol trivia. She recognized the strange name Aqours, it drew attention to itself. Kind of fake French or something. She even knew some of the names, she thought ... this one was named Riko, their composer. She used mnemonics reflexively to remember names: this was the image she had in her mind, what was she ... okay cherry blossoms in her mouth ...

"Sakurauchi, you are rather bold for a high school girl, aren't you?"

* * *

"You are rather bold for a high school girl, aren't you?" the idol asked.

"When you have nothing, you become bold. That's the way of life."

"Fine, fine," the idol surprisingly said. She scooted next to Riko and asked, "Do you know Loveless World?"

Riko knew it very well, actually. It was her second-most-played song lately.

Ironically, the two harmonized quite well on the song. In fact, a crowd had gathered when they finished. Riko looked up, surprised. She heard the name "Nico" being said.

Yazawa got up and extended her hand to Riko.

"I think our little concert is over, Sakurauchi-chan. Or it is for me. Can we go to the kissaten over there and continue our discussion? For some reason, I want to talk to you. Also, bow!"

She gently turned Riko away from the piano and held her arm as they both bowed. Then Riko joined her walking over to the kissaten without agreeing out loud to go.

You know what? I bet misery really DOES love company, she reflected.

* * *

Nico told Sakurauchi that she'd pay for everything, of course: she was an adult, with much more money than a high-school girl had, and she'd invited the girl there.

"Let's talk freely, Sakurauchi-chan. One of the great things Ayase Eli contributed to us was to insist we drop the formalities. So. You are in love with someone in the group?"

The girl nodded. "Our group leader. Chika."

"She's quite similar to our leader, Honoka, at least superficially, I think."

"Very similar. More like her than the younger Kousaka sister is. We met Honoka once, with Kira Tsubasa of ARISE."

"You must have reminded Tsubasa of both Erena and Maki. I wish I could have seen that."

"You're exactly right, actually. She said I looked like Erena and acted like Maki, or something like that."

"Honoka aside, it didn't go well for you?"

'No, she even said she liked me, but I misunderstood."

"Doesn't like girls?"

"No, she does. But her childhood friend, it turns out, has her heart. None of us knew, even the friend. And I made a fool of myself."

"Not knowing any more than that, I can't agree, Sakurauchi-chan. The fool is the one who doesn't say anything and suffers in silence when it's too late."

"Ah."

"Although it might have always been too late. I have never seen Maki with a girl. But it's not like I've seen her all the time over the years."

"Why did you come over?"

"Why did you ask?"

They both went silent. "I don't know!" they said, almost at the same time. Then they laughed. It broke the ice.

"So in your case, it's like Maki was in love with Honoka, but she chose Kotori over Maki. Huh."

"And in your case, it's like Yoshiko was in love with me, but I chose to disregard it, I guess."

"Yoshiko is which one?"

"One of the first years. Long, black hair with some blue highlights. She goes for the 'cute little devil' look."

"I'm surprised she didn't stand out more for me, then. What's she like?"

"Well, as for that, the main thing is she's a big chuunibyou, I guess."

"Excuse you, Sakurauchi. Even when I actually was in middle school I was taking care of three children and getting great grades so I could get into UTX. Or Otonokizaka as it turned out. I wasn't going around telling people I had a deadly eye or was a reincarnated swords-woman."

"Fallen angel."

"Whatever."

"It's a story she tells to feel better. To feel special. That's the connection. Like Yazawa-san, calling herself Nico Nii and telling herself she was the number one idol in the universe. Also, I heard a story going around, it was probably fifth hand by the time we heard it, but it claimed Yazawa-san had pasted her face over the center in photos of µ's concerts and told her little sisters she was the star of µ's, and the other eight were her backup dancers. That's something I could definitely see Yoshiko do."

"Well, who can say about the distant past, but it sounds exaggerated to me."

"Of course, of course. Anyway, I think Yazawa-san's approach is more socially acceptable, but not as far from Yoshiko's as you might think. Also, she's a wonderful girl. She definitely shakes up things and prevents boredom. People didn't listen to her at first, but that changed eventually."

Niko probably looked noticeably unhappy at that part.

"Anyway," Riko continued, unperturbed. "Me and Yoshiko, huh." She went back to drinking her coffee and had some of the cake she'd ordered. After a while, she said, "I think if it happened now, I'd take her up on it."

Nico was a little surprised. "How long since you confessed to Chika .. Takami-san, is it?"

Riko nodded. "Not long, now. maybe a month? But it's not been a good month. I still write songs, but I ask myself, why bother. I go to practices, ditto. Somewhere along the line, probably pretty early, all of this became about Chika. And now my motivation is missing. And I don't really have anyone to talk to about it. I'm visiting my aunt, most of our family still lives in Akihabara. And I came to go shopping in Tokyo, but I actually went over and asked to borrow that piano to seek inspiration. It's going to be used by someone later today, but the person setting it up was friendly." She looked over at Nico. "Are you thinking I'm a fickle girl to be claiming I'm heartbroken?"

"I don't know enough to judge," Nico responded.

"I don't have anyone to prove anything to, you know."

"Like I said ..."

"I don't have to torment myself because I'm already being tormented. I don't have to feel even worse to make my feelings for Chika seem more real."

Riko sighed.

"Nico-sempai, how long was it after Maki rejected you that you started dating?"

"How long ..." Nico said. She looked down. "How long is it, now? Eight years?"

"So you ... NEVER?" Riko said, shocked.

"I guess I never ... got around to it," Nico said, sadly. "Except acting, I've never even been kissed. I might have gotten Maki to kiss me goodbye, but I worried it would hurt worse if I did."

"That's just terrible, Nico!" Riko said. "Well, I am much younger, but actually... Chika and You practiced kissing even before they were dating, when they were younger. And so did Kanan and Mari and Dia. And Ruby and Hanamaru. I suppose only Yoshiko and I are the unkissed Aqours girls. But someone like Nico doesn't deserve eight years of loneliness. What are you punishing yourself for, sempai? For falling in love with the wrong person?"

"Ah, well ... I couldn't let it go, Riko. I tried, but I really couldn't. And as for loneliness, I did have my family."

"I respect that," Riko said. "My family ... well, I'm the only child and we're not a close family. My parents didn't spend any time with me. And I didn't make friends, somehow. So maybe I feel loneliness quicker than sempai does, because it's been such a long time for me."

She looked thoughtful.

"If Yoshiko had a thing for me, and it would make her happy to be my girlfriend, I would give it a try, is all. It can't be worse than how I feel now."

"Have you ever asked her about things like that?"

"Liking girls? No, and I won't. I'm not as close with her as her fellow first-years are. Coming from me it would look like a confession. And that would be fooling Yoshiko."

"That's fair."

They sipped more coffee and ate more cake. It was a pleasant atmosphere.

But Riko's expression changed suddenly. She seemed to be struggling with something.

"The thing is, Yazawa-san ..."

"You can call me Nico, I think we should dispense with the formalities, Riko-chan."

"The thing is, Nico," she said with a smile, "I already know that **you** like girls."

Nico wondered where she was going with that.

"How long before you all do the µ's reunion? Will Maki be in it?"

"Around two years from now, and yes. She'll probably need to practice with me, because they want us to do two duets. The fans all loved their 'NicoMaki.' That kind of bothered Maki-chan."

"So, hmm. So Nico-san is 'Christmas cake?' But that's not ancient, at least," the girl mused.

It was one thing to dispense with the formalities, another to be brazenly rude. But Nico decided to assume this strange girl had her reasons.

Riko reached over and grabbed Nico's hands. She waited patiently until Nico dropped her fork onto her plate, then pulled them towards herself.

"Nico-san, let's go to a hotel. Now."

Nico was shocked. "But, why would you..."

"Because I want to sleep with Nico-san, obviously. I want to touch you and I want you to touch me. I want you to say "I love you Riko," while we're lying together in a bed. I want to look into your eyes when I stop being a virgin, I think."

"But aren't you ..."

"Never mind what I am. Even with someone your age, you'd have to sneak around, wouldn't you?"

"Ummm ... I wonder," Nico said, still taken aback. "I guess so, for a couple more years, it would still help my career. But after the reunion is over, before I become twenty-eight, I already planned on leaving the idol agency. I will probably just have my personal agent then. So I wouldn't be an idol, and dating or marriage would be expected, really."

"What a coincidence, in a couple of years you won't have to worry about the other thing, either."

Riko had brought her back-pack along, and now she brought out another school uniform. "This truly is fate, Nico-san. Do you know whose uniform this is?"

Nico, of course, had no idea.

"This is Chika's. She went on a date, then stayed over at You's house. I'm her neighbor, so she asked me last night to bring her uniform in so she could change into it when she went directly to school on Monday. I went over to her house and put it in my pack early so I wouldn't forget it." She handed it to Nico.

* * *

It was pretty clear that Nico didn't want the uniform or have any idea why Riko handed it to her. "Please put it on," Riko said.

Nico looked back and forth between Riko and the uniform, then said, "Hmmm I guess it wouldn't be the first time." She went into the bathroom.

Riko felt like she was a ghost observing herself from outside of her body. She had never even remotely been like this her whole life. Except when she panicked, she could do weird things when she panicked. Maybe this was a 'life panic.'

When Nico came out, she was wearing typical high-school girl glasses. She truly looked like she belonged in Chika's uniform. Her breasts didn't push it out as far as Chika's did, but that didn't show.

Riko almost applauded. But she had plans and that would have ruined them. "What's with the glasses, Nico-san?"

"They're not corrective. They help me not be recognized. Did you know, I don't have red eyes, and Maki doesn't have violet eyes?"

Riko was puzzled.

"Maki's part European on both sides, and she just has a special kind of blue that looks violet. Some people do have blue eyes with red behind them, and they're 'true' violet eyes. And some people, like me, have grey eyes with some red behind it. Take a look."

Riko didn't mind looking in Nico's eyes. And sure enough, they weren't purely red or even pink.

"I have some albino genes, but it's weird. My skin is as pale as it should be, and my eyes are reddish, but my hair is black. If I was your friend, I'd be in heaven, I guess. I'd keep my hair long and stringy, wear flowing white slips, and brush my hair aside to reveal my demonic red eyes ..."

Riko laughed.

"Anyway, it turns out just having glasses on makes it much harder to tell my eye color. The red is on the back part."

Riko suddenly suggested they split another piece of cake and have more coffee.

"What happened to," then Nico stage whispered, "Let's go to a hotel, Nico-san?"

"That's still the plan," Riko said, smiling. She reached over and touched Nico's hand briefly. "But first, I have to reassure sempai."

"Sem-what?" Nico exclaimed. But Riko had already signaled a waiter over.

"My sempai has never been here before, but she was raving about how great it is," Riko said, when he arrived.

The waiter looked at Nico and smiled. "We are very glad you like our coffee shop, we are all diligent, and very happy when our honored customers, especially the girls from Uranohoshi, come here and enjoy the shop. Please tell your friends about us, much obliged."

He took their order and left for the kitchen. Nico admitted the waiter had taken her at face value as an Uranohoshi student, and they relaxed.

"So, sempai," Riko said. "About that hotel."

* * *

Nico looked at her, but was too startled to know what to say.

"When I had the impulse, I just wanted to go somewhere and just do it, get it over with. Break the ice."

"Get it - over with?"

"No, not like, 'not be a virgin,' but like, 'Nico and I have done it once already, so let's continue.' More like that."

"But ..." Nico sensed a 'but' coming.

"But that's a sad way to have our first time, and nothing we do should be sad. The whole point is not being sad."

"So what would be 'not sad,' in a world where I would actually go to a hotel with an under..."

"Sempai, don't talk about things that don't matter. Does sempai know a good ryokan nearby?"

Nico did, actually. It was a small train ride, nothing onerous. The ryokan was cheap, a little run-down but very clean. And it had an old-fashioned hot-springs-style bathing area. Walled-in, but without a ceiling so you could see the sky at night. Riko noticed her pondering it, and guessed she did have one in mind.

"Okay, sempai, spill."

"Well, as I was saying, it's out of the question. The place I have in mind is a couple's place, mostly, anyway."

"Well, there we are."

Their cake had arrived, so Riko shifted the conversation to something innocuous. When they'd both finished, and Nico had paid, they left.

"Let's go to the station, sempai."

"You know, Eli said not to call anyone sempai."

"That was because you were all in the same group. But if you µ's girls aren't our sempais, I don't know who would be. Please trust me, I have a reason for how I'm, addressing you, sempai. And I want you to call me nothing but Riko-chan, which, thankfully, you're already doing."

"Are you normally this impulsive?"

"I never am."

"Riko, what's gotten into you, then?"

"Loneliness, self-loathing, mental anguish, it's a long list, sempai. Mainly, I think, it's 'not one day more,' or even 'not one hour more.'"

Nico was still puzzled, of course.

"If I don't try this, now, when will I? Is eight years the right amount of time?"

Nico squeezed Riko's hand. While they were talking, they'd somehow arrived at the station. Riko asked what train they needed to take.

Nico was going to protest again, and Riko held her tightly and whispered in her ear.

"Don't. Don't say no. Don't let us both go home alone. Give us both something to live for, to look forward to. I don't want to spend another night alone with nothing but my unbearable thoughts. You and I both know we aren't doing anything wrong."

Somehow, the girl had stripped Nico of all her defenses. The truth of how unhappy she was, all through eight years of smiling and making light of her pain, was really hitting Nico, and chilling her to the bone. In the end, what decided her was how warm Riko's hand was. She bought tickets for both of them, and led Riko to the train.

* * *

On the train, Riko went to the area between cars. She insisted on being the one to phone ahead. It must have been old-fashioned, as you couldn't even make reservations online. She said that she and her sempai had been stranded in Tokyo after a singing competition had been rescheduled. And that they were both fond of ryokans, and that this was the only one her family in Uranohoshi remembered. Did they have a room they could split? They did, it turned out. And even though mostly couples went there, the clerk taking the phone call didn't mention that. Riko made the reservation, then closed the call and went back to their seat, satisfied.

"Sempai, we need a name for you ..." she mused. "I have it - you are now Takami Maki."

Nico laughed. "Of all the names to use ..."

"Made you laugh, sempai. Therefore, it's a good name. It's a little like - getting it out of our system. It's a joke only we two will get."

Nico didn't bother to ask why she'd need a pseudonym. She wondered aloud how she'd get checked in without an ID, though.

"You left your ID at school, sempai. How careless! What an example you are setting for your innocent kouhai who looks up to you."

Riko felt thoughtful. "Or maybe a little more..."

She nodded to herself. "Yes, I think it's more than simple admiration."

Riko looked Nico in the eye then turned her head to one side and kissed her suddenly. Tenderly. After a bit, she moved her head away and looked at Nico again.

"Now, sempai, you can't say you've never been kissed. And I am not acting." She made a mental note that if both girls didn't go for it at the same time, it was much, much easier not to 'miss' and bump noses or foreheads or whatever. Achievement: Flawless First Kiss - Unlocked!

Nico looked stunned. They sat next to each other in silence as the train continued on its way. A couple of times, Nico looked over at Riko, who was still smiling.

"Riko-chan, was that really your first kiss?" Nico inquired, quietly.

"Of any kind, Nico-san. Unlike you, I don't lock lips with handsome actors and maybe actresses for take after take, either."

* * *

At first, Nico didn't know how to feel. Her first kiss! And with a junior in high school, barely old enough to drive! And herself, wearing a high-school uniform! She'd had a rare weekend off and been wondering how to spend it. But she couldn't have envisioned this. Not in a million years. Shouldn't she feel bad? She actually didn't know how she really felt. A little numb. A little foolish. What had it taken to end a lifetime of not being kissed? One brave high-school girl, and ten seconds. Well, more like 30 seconds. She realized she was confusing what she thought and what she should feel with what she did feel.

Her eyes flooded with tears. She held on to Riko's arm and looked at her face. "Thank you, Riko," she said.

"Thank me by kissing me, sempai." Riko tilted her head a little, then waited, holding perfectly still.

Nico looked around. This train had no one in this particular car. Nico brought her lips to Riko's. She was still crying and shaking a little.

* * *

Her first kiss! And let's be honest: the drama around it only made it much, much sweeter. It felt like being in a movie. What a movie you could make out of this, Riko thought. She let her imagination run wild. If Nico and her married, for instance. After a few years, no one would quibble about Riko being too young when they got together. If worst came to worst, they could lie about the year a little. She pictured meeting with producers for the presentation. It wasn't quite as fun and dramatic, but they'd probably say Riko was in the last part of her senior year, so she'd be safely eighteen.

One of the princesses of the µ's empire had married one of the princesses of the nation of Aqours! Of course, there'd be an age difference. That was typical of dynastic marriages, after all. Muse on one bride's side of the lower worship hall, Aqours on the other. After a tragic lost love, Princess Nico had shut herself away in a tower, and only ate bread and water. Her only friends were the birds who landed on the ledge so she could feed them crumbs. Then one day, Nico heard the notes of a lute coming from a carriage heading towards µ's. Princess Riko of Aqours, though heartbroken herself, was entertaining her sisters. The lovely sound drew the princess out of her tower for the first time in eight years. As she leaned out of the window at the foot of the stairs, their eyes met... Wait!

Nico was crying. Uh oh. But then, she turned to Riko and thanked her. On impulse, Riko replied, "Thank me by kissing me, sempai." She closed her eyes and tilted her head. But she was not going to move an inch, so Nico wouldn't have to maneuver. Assuming she would actually kiss Riko.

She did.

Until a couple of passengers entered the car, only a couple of stops before the ryokan's station, they traded kisses, held hands, looked out the window and looked at each other. Riko's heart soared. It felt like they were already girlfriends. And soon, wouldn't they be just plain lovers? It really looked like it. Thank you, piano, she thought, smiling. I guess you really came through on the inspiration front. She felt like she could write a dozen songs without breaking a sweat, now. But she'd prefer it if they were all for Nico.

* * *

Nishiyama Yuriko had mixed emotions about working at the ryokan. It wasn't quite what she'd trained to do, which was managing a hot springs resort of her own, preferably in Hokkaido, where she and her wife had gotten their civil partnership certificate. But they had needed more income if that was ever going to happen, and in truth, this ryokan had the same ambiance, even if its outdoor bath was artificially heated and simply piped through sulfur-bearing rocks. And it was very nice. Of course, mostly couples came to it. She hoped the two high school girls who were staying there that night didn't see anything unseemly. But high school girls, nowadays, had probably seen it all, she reflected.

Unless she missed her guess that was them walking down the road towards the entrance gate now. Uh oh. They couldn't know that the light where they were brought them into sharp relief. It was easy to see they were pausing to kiss passionately before going through the gate. "Stranded, are you?" she said out loud, and laughed. "Stranded on the shores of love, more like."

But fortunately for their plans, Yuriko wasn't going to hinder them. In fact - in fact, she thought, chuckling. She would treat them like all the other couples, the men and women, from the start. That would embarrass them, serves them right for fibbing! And, hopefully, this would make their time here even more memorable.

The girls, Sakurauchi Riko and her sempai, who said her name was Takami Maki, were nervous right from the start. Although she did look older, it was hard to believe Takami was the sempai, as her kouhai did all the talking. At a guess, the sempai was paying for their stay, but otherwise the younger girl was the boss of the couple. The way Takami gave her name convinced Yuriko that it was probably a fake. How foolish. As if anyone cared who this high school girl was here. She claimed she'd left her ID at school, but hadn't thought she'd need it. True to her resolution to not interfere with their happiness, Yuriko took everything at face value. She had been planning to use a room with twin beds when the reservation was made, but she'd changed it to a single-bed couples room. She would have her helper put some plum wine, chocolates, and flowers on the coffee table, and two pretty yukata in the closet. The bath was open at all hours, and full of nooks where you couldn't be seen by the other people bathing. It was also pretty large for something located in Tokyo. It helped that the owner had a perpetual land tax amount that couldn't be changed by law, so they hadn't been priced out of the area.

Looking at how the couple interacted, Yuriko decided this was their "first time" trip. How romantic. It was amazing girls were still so romantic and sentimental in this age. She well remembered her first time. She'd been a young hot springs worker, and one visitor had wanted her constantly around her whole visit ... She never asked her wife how many nakai had come before Yuriko. All that mattered was that they were together now. She hoped she could give the two cuties a similarly unforgettable night.

* * *

When they got to their room, it was immediately clear to Riko that they'd been given a couple's room. Not only was there plum wine with two cups, two heart-shaped chocolates, flowers, and slightly erotic old-style paintings on the wall, but there was only one bed. Riko hadn't looked forward to trying to have sex on a twin bed, but hadn't been able to come up with an excuse for wanting to share a bed. Probably this place just didn't have many twin-bed rooms. Thank goodness!

"First things first," she said. Nico looked at her.

"Our first cute couple thing, of course."

She knelt in front of the coffee table and Nico did likewise. Riko poured a small cup of plum wine for Nico. She waited until Nico reciprocated.

"Now, sempai, this is going to be tricky. The cups aren't too full, but we still have to go slow. Don't move your head."

Riko made it clear she wanted them to do cross-cup drinking. They succeeded in keeping their arms touching and not spilling. Nico and Riko finished the little bottle of plum wine and Riko cheered.

"Okay," she said, after they'd put the cups back on the tray holding the bottle. "Second cute couple thing."

"You plan things this fast?" Nico asked, looking amazed.

"Sempai, you've been out of the school idol scene too long. I have to compose, practice dancing, keep my grades up — you can't do all that without planning," she said, smirking.

* * *

Nico, currently juggling two voice acting jobs, just finishing a play, and about to play a supporting role in a big film, was kind enough not to correct her, but rather, played along.

Riko took one of the heart-shaped chocolates and put it on her tongue. "Zhis wn fr oo shmpai," she tried to say. Her tongue pulled back into her mouth, Riko leaned forward expectantly.

Nico had already decided to make the most of this scandalous tryst. And to play along with Riko, no matter what. She noticed that Riko was often trembling, even as she gave orders and pretended to be confident. Nico could understand that all too well.

So Nico kissed Riko. They wrapped their arms around each other and let their hands drift down each other's backs. Nico's tongue went into Riko's partly opened mouth. She tasted something sweet, and suddenly she felt the chocolate being pushed into her mouth by a sweet, slippery tongue, in turn.

While they continued kissing the chocolate melted in Nico's mouth and she swallowed it.

* * *

Riko could feel Nico smiling. "Riko's turn," she heard. Wow, was this heart-pounding. It was so much better than she'd imagined. She felt herself healing already. For the first time in ages, she didn't miss Chika like a missing limb. She stuck her tongue in Nico's mouth. Imagine that. From never even kissing to being so lewd with a grown woman, like it was nothing. She tasted the chocolate, then felt it being pushed into her mouth.

Like Nico before her, she kissed until the chocolate melted in her mouth, then ran her tongue over it before she swallowed it. Combined with their bodies pressed tightly together, their hands grabbing each other's bottoms, the sweetness of the kiss and the chocolate — it was all overwhelming.

She decided it was time for the next step she'd envisioned.

"Sempai, we should change into our yukata now," Riko said, pointing to the open door of the closet they were hanging in.

"But!"

Nico looked at her.

"I don't want to hide from sempai, and I don't want sempai to hide from me. So after we strip, completely, and before we put on our yukata, I want to see my fill. And I want sempai to see me."

* * *

The girl looked at Nico defiantly. Nico had promised herself to play along, but it was a truly embarrassing demand. Could she do this? She'd seen, and been seen by, girls in baths of course. But this was different, somehow. Then again, wasn't that the point? Nico knew she was in perfect shape. She had to be, given the roles she played. In fact, she hadn't gained even half a kilo since high school. Even though her breasts had finally grown a bit.

Well. Nico felt a little subdued, but she took off her shirt and skirt and neatly folded them and placed them on a shelf in the closet. Riko did the same. They faced each other.

Niko took a deep breath and undid her bra, dropping it to the floor. Then she took another breath and, blushing, she bent over to lower her panties.

"Wait," she heard Riko say. The girl moved around so she could see Niko from behind. "Okay, go ahead, sempai." Nico hadn't been so embarrassed since µ's had caught her at her house with all her fake posters. But she dutifully dropped her panties and then stood straight again. Riko moved again until they were facing each other, and, looking Niko in the eye, she stripped off her bra and tossed it to Nico. She pointed to Nico's underwear pile, so Nico dropped it there. Then Riko turned away from Nico and bent over and removed her panties, slowly. She turned around and tossed them to Nico, too.

Now they were both naked. Riko's eyes raked hungrily over Nicos's body. She approached Nico, and caressed her breast.

"You grew a little even since high school, sempai," she mused. "You're not as big as Chika, but you're nearly as big as me." Nico had grown about six centimeters in the bust, having been flatter than Ruby when she was in µ's, and was actually as big as Riko now.

* * *

To take the sting out of her second remark, she threw her arms around Nico and pressed her close, kissing her passionately. Nico threw her arms around Riko and they kissed like that for a while. Then Riko stepped back again.

As Riko took in Nico's body, she was surprised how young she looked. She had been worried about being found out, but wasn't any more. Nico had the bare beginning of lines, due to worry, if you looked at her face very close up. But otherwise, she still looked younger than Riko.

"You don't have much hair, do you, sempai? Do you shave it?"

Nico kept staring at Riko. The truth is, Riko didn't know where this bold person that she was becoming came from.

"No, Riko-chan. Ummm it's all I have."

"Does sempai do nude scenes sometimes?"

"No … I didn't want to. And it helps that I don't do grown women roles." The oldest Nico had played, she explained, was a recent role as a high school senior, made eighteen so it wouldn't be as bad that the character was with a middle-aged man.

"But maybe, after Nico isn't an idol anymore, I will play such parts."

"Why on Earth?" Riko demanded.

"Well, it preserves your body at its peak for safekeeping. Just vanity. And it opens up more roles."

"Sempai, if you wish, I will preserve your naked body in pictures and videos starting now, as many as you wish."

Riko felt annoyed. "If sempai is doing nude scenes with men - I don't want that."

Nico laughed, and Riko changed the subject.

"So, is mine similar to Maki-chan's?"

Nico looked down where Riko's hand led her. "I'm trying to remember how Maki looked in the bath when we all went … Pretty much, I think."

"Yoshiko probably has a little more than sempai, but it's pretty close. Breasts, too," Riko said.

Riko didn't know why she was so amused and absorbed in the little parallels of Nico/Maki Yoshiko/Riko Riko/Chika Maki/Honoka, but she was, in fact.

"Sempai, let me play with your hair for a minute."

Riko had helped Yoshiko put her hair up a few times, when Zuramaru wasn't around. It didn't take long to give Nico the style, pinning it in place with a lacquered chopstick.

"Okay, sempai. Say 'Hello, my little demons. The fallen angel, Yohane, greets you.' In your best chuunbiyou take, Miss Actress."

Nico had voiced chuunbiyou-suffering teens, of course. So she did as requested.

Riko broke up laughing. "My goodness, sempai! That's both the funniest and the sexiest thing I've ever seen."

Nico just stood there, looking like a naked Yoshiko. Then she said, fine, fine. It's Riko's turn. Let's show you Honoka, then."

* * *

After she used her barrettes to rearrange Riko's hair into Honoka's style, she had Riko say "As long as we've got determination, we can do anything!"

Then she had both of them raise their hands up and say "Muse, Music, START!" It always made Nico nostalgic and a little teary-eyed to hear it. Seeing a naked "Honoka" doing it was .. well, sexy and funny at the same time.

Now Riko's face was more serious. She used a barrette to pin back Nico's hair on one side. She braided the other and fixed it with a band, tucking a flower from the vase on the table into the band.

Niko guessed she was now Takami Chika. Dangerous territory. Because she remembered the Aqours leader was always smiling, she smiled and waited for Riko to tell her what to do.

"Takami-sempai!" Riko confirmed. "Please say 'we have to shine on our own, in our own way!"

* * *

Nico did so, smiling.

"Yes! Smile! Smile!" Riko approved. "Now say, 'We can't get to a hundred right away, but we can get to one!'"

But Riko felt tears in her eyes, hearing Nico say Chika's saying.

"Riko-chan, are you alright?"

"Hmmm," Riko said. "I think I am both sad and happy at the same time, in equal amounts, so it's hard to answer."

* * *

Nico took a deep breath. She took the barrettes out of Riko's hair and brushed it into curves around her face.

"Okay, Riko-chan, now play with your hair a little."

"Play with it?"

"Like, twist it nervously."

"Like this?"

"Yes, now say 'Imi wakannai!' like you're super annoyed. But with a very sultry voice."

Wow, did she ever look like Maki. And sound like her. Nico wanted to pack everything up right now and go home and cry, but she also wanted to stay and see this through. Riko was so beautiful. This was what it would have been like, she thought.

In a way, this whole night was restoring something to Nico that she'd been cheated out of in high school. It wasn't mentally or emotionally healthy to push this thing, of Riko and her as substitutes, but it would be okay tonight.

* * *

 **Notes:**

 **CHRISTMAS CAKE: The cakes go on discount once Dec. 25 rolls around — a fact that gave birth to an unfortunate bit of old Japanese slang: "Christmas cake" was used to refer to an unmarried woman who was over 25 and thus, considered past her prime. Riko is invoking that trope. As you can see, Nico is right, it's pretty rude calling Nico "Christmas cake,', but Riko's making the joking point that their age difference isn't a problem.**

 **In this scenario Nico is dating eight years from the first rejections by Maki when she was still 17, and basically confessing in a roundabout way, not the formal rejection by Maki after graduation, so she is still 25, almost 26. It will be a year or two until the µ's 10th anniversary concert. A while after that Nico is going to settle in to singing and acting, with dancing being part of the singing, mostly, and stop "beng an idol." She's a bit more than nine years older than Riko.**


	2. Plum Wine and Mousse

**Chapter 2: Plum Wine and Mousse**

At this point, they should probably actually put on the yukata, Riko thought. But then …

"Sempai, one more thing. Hmmm … in her purse was a tiny bottle of hair mist, for touch-ups. She had Nico brush out her hair and part it in the middle. Then brush her bangs out to the sides and spray hair mist on them. She could see Nico already smiling, amused.

* * *

She shuffled away from Nico and shook her butt, then turned around and put her hands together over her head.

 **"Dancing, dancing, don't stop my dancing!"** she sang. Her voice and Erena's were quite close, so it wasn't difficult. Holding her hand up invitingly: **"Dancing, dancing, let me do it …"** Reaching out to Nico: **"… Shocking Shocking Party hajimeru junbi wa dou!"**

* * *

Although Nico wasn't "dressed" for it, Riko was pleased to see that although she laughed, her sempai played along. Pointing at Riko, she sang, **"Saa kite koko ni kite!** " And then, pointing up: **"Come here, right over here!"**

Then Riko grabbed her.

* * *

"Oh, Tsubasa, I've always hungered for your tiny but lovely flesh! I can't bear it anymore!" Nico heard her say. She continued to play along.

"Of course it's fine, Erena! Why do you think I make you wear such tight leggings? Ah .. it's probably too early to talk about a threesome, I suppose …" they both laughed. It was well in keeping with Tsubasa's flirty image.

"It certainly is, Sempai!" Riko said, pouting and putting her hands on her hips. Then she hugged Nico closely and kissed her. "Your kouhai is all you're going to need, after all," she murmured. She pressed them together so their bodies were in contact almost from head to toe. She took Nico's hand and rested it on her breast, and rested hers on Nico's. As they kissed, she simply let them be. Each of them had their free hands on the rear end of the other. The kiss got more and more passionate. Then Riko whirled away and grabbed their yukatas, and silently handled Nico's to her. Nico was bewildered, but after staring stupidly at Riko, she saw the girl nod to the yukata and dutifully put it on.

* * *

"Rambunctious, aren't they!" Yuriko thought. The way they were teasing and laughing and even singing, punctuated with silences, led her to think the romantic atmosphere and the plum wine were doing their job already.

She thought about them singing. It sounded like something they were comfortable and familiar doing together. She felt like maybe they were almost recognizable. If she had to bet … high school, singers … and high school idols were still somewhat popular, though not nearly as popular as when the Love Live! contest had started, ten years or so ago … … perhaps one or both of them were "famous" in their high school circuit. That would explain why they had to go far afield to have a night together. Probably the older one was more well-known? That would explain her fake name, nicely.

"If the fans knew what they get up to behind closed doors…" she said aloud. Then laughed. The fans would be overjoyed, most likely. In fact, she and her wife had watched the Love Lives sometimes simply to take in the cute girls in tight, revealing clothes dancing and singing their hearts out. When you knew you both liked girls, you could spot each other the occasional girl-watching session. She remembered that one Akihabara group that won the second year, and how, watching the girls, they'd shipped the flashy redhead and the short little girl on the end …

Come to think of it, the sempai looked a great deal like that girl, didn't she? Probably a younger sister or a niece or something. So she probably didn't want any scandal falling on her elder from her little relative having an affair. A love of girls with red hair, an ability to sing, she was clearly following in the footsteps of the older girl. Yuriko hadn't really paid much attention to her, but her wife had declared her "cute," and pointed out how often she and the redhead looked at each other and how much skinship they had during the performances.

But what would explain the other girl? Probably also a school idol. When her wife got back they would amuse themselves by going online and looking for a group with two girls like this, she decided.

She had prepared the women's side. But she felt it needed a touch. There was one nook in the baths you could see immediately on your left as you entered the women's side and most of it was out of sight of the rest of the bath. If they were there for what she thinks they'd be bound to explore it. How cute! She thought of the touch. She fetched a small tray and put more plum wine and cups on It, and left it on the shelf near where towels were hung. She'd written a short note when she fetched the wine:

 **"To our honored high school guests** ,"

it read outside. Unfolded, it said,

"W **ith our compliments. It is rude, but we could not help overhearing you singing together. You sing as beautifully as the school idols we see on TV. You two would do well with "Love Live." Warm feelings, your fans, Yamayuri Ryokan."**

Yuriko laughed to herself. That should put the fear into the overly timid sempai. Of course, realistically, announcing in writing you were giving extra plum wine to high school girls was a bit troublesome, but this ryokan was old, out of the way, and normally ran by its own rules.

* * *

As she'd faintly hoped she would be, Riko was very, very excited. She didn't even feel much like lying back and soaking, looking up at the stars snuggling with Nico-sempai. That would be too much patience for her current mood. That would be fine after. After what, she wasn't quite ready to specify. And lo and behold, to the left and a little ahead was an obvious nook in the stone surrounding the bathing area. She dragged Nico over, and they commented to each other about how it was like a tiny room that curved out of sight. There were two pegs for towels, and below them was a shelf - which - well, it looked like it was occupied already. There was a little bottle of plum wine and a note. Prepared for one of the couples, who'd .. wait, this was the women's side, not a mixed bathing area … so unless the man was very bold … was there another female couple? Her curiosity got the better of her, and she looked more closely at the note in the very dim light.

 **"To our honored high school guests?"** She exclaimed. Well, that clinched it. The staff here knew very well what they were here for. "At least they're treating us like another couple, Nico-sempai," she said, turning to Nico.

Nico looked anxious but had to agree that it was better not having to explain anything. They hung their towels on the pegs and snuggled, and shared the warm wine. Then Riko came up with another, more dubious, 'cute' couple idea.

* * *

Suddenly, Riko's hand twitched, and hot plum wine spilled down Nico's front, starting at the base of her throat. "Oops, sempai!" she said. Then: "Well .." and she stood up, moved in front, and quickly licked it off of Nico, following it down to her breasts, licking them clean and continuing down to her navel, crouching down to do so. Her tongue went a little lower, then she suddenly stood up and pulled Nico closer for more passionate kissing and fondling. They sat back down, still necking. Nico was predictably stirred.

Riko's hand 'twitched' again. This time some of the wine spilled across Riko's front. "Oh what a clumsy kouhai I am, sempai! And now I've made a mess. Someone help me!" She looked at Nico with puppy eyes. Nico imitated Riko, licking the wine off her body. Riko gasped and moaned unashamedly the whole time, turning Nico bright red with embarrassment. Was this what a young girl was like? If so, she and Maki would probably have been caught their first time … and, thank goodness, she was able to drive that thought away almost effortlessly. Riko was Riko, she reminded herself. Maybe it really was better to think of her as a young Erena. But still herself, not just some general young girl. And definitely, definitely not Maki.

Riko's final trick was transferring the rest of the wine to each other by mouth, and they finished the second little clay bottle quickly.

* * *

It was high time to get more serious. "I think Nico-sempai's strawberries are as delicious as plum wine, so let me taste them again, okay?" She looked at Nico briefly before moving to her chest. As she stroked the berries in question with her flicking tongue, she guided Nico's hand as she had earlier, this time boldly to her middle, concealed under the sulfur water in the dim light of the baths at night, and followed suit with her own.

* * *

The sensation of having first one, then the other nipple stimulated along with her area under the water was so overwhelming, it was at first hard for Nico to understand what Riko suddenly asked. "Does sempai wish to have strawberries as well?" she repeated. Imitating Riko, Nico teased her while being teased and moved her mouth to Riko's front.

* * *

"We're … alone … and the staff … knows what's what, sempai. This is our first time .. giving each other pleasure … we can't be afraid to make sounds … it won't be half as enjoyable."

Miraculously, Riko convinced Nico not to hold back anymore. She was sure this would be, as she promised, their first time giving each other their moment.

And so it turned out.

And then, Nico read the inside of the note.


	3. Nico Panic!

**Chapter 3: Nico Panic**

"Oh, crap. Oh God."

They had brought the note back to their room. It was addressed to them, after all.

Suddenly, Nico was shaking. Riko was frightened. She gently removed the note from Nico's clenched fist. When their eyes met, Nico looked absolutely devastated. And terrified. Riko threw one arm around her and pulled her to her chest. She held her tightly with her arm while she unfolded the note. Nico had begun to cry and was still shaking like a leaf.

W **ith our compliments. It is rude, but we could not help overhearing you singing together. You sing as beautifully as the school idols we see on TV. You two would do well with "Love Live." Warm feelings, your fans, Yamayuri Ryokan**

So what was terrible? It seemed complimentary, if anything. As expected for Nico-sempai.

But that didn't explain - this. She looked down at the shaken woman.

She looked back and re-read the note, carefully. From a certain angle, were they ... dropping hints? Okay, she had a glimmering ... clearly Yazawa Nico thought she'd been identified.

* * *

Nico hadn't felt like this since her father died.

Even the failure of her first idol group hadn't hit her as hard. She was ruined. For whatever reason, the hotel clerk who'd seemed so nice, and perhaps others here, were actually malevolent and were threatening her with exposure.

Dating, being a lesbian - both of those would have been things she strove to hide yesterday. But now, they paled compared to being incognito at what amounted to a love ryokan, with a girl almost ten years younger, and still underage. Dressed as a high school girl herself!

It wasn't the sort of thing an idol recovered from. A man, especially an actor in action movies, sure. But not an idol. And not her sort of actress, either. And that was not even mentioning the possiblity of being prosecuted. What would that do to her family, who were all so very proud of her?

Did they realize that, while moderately successful as a singer and actress, Nico didn't have much money? Most of her earnings had gone to her family, after buying a modest house and car.

She felt like her wounded heart had just started to heal, just this day, when a dozen arrows were fired into it from the shadows. Now, she bitterly regretted coming here, but she didn't blame Riko. The girl had been doing her best to make Nico feel better.

She wanted to be more angry at the ryokan staff. But she just felt helpless. She was crying so hard she hiccoughed, and tears were soaking Riko's yukata.

* * *

Riko knew this was a delicate moment. No, don't be silly. It was the delicate moment. The **most** delicate. Not only this trip, this relationship was at stake, but also Nico's confidence in herself, and even her remaining happiness were all on the line.

"Sempai, you are borrowing trouble at this point. Be more objective. Don't just panic. Tell me what you're thinking."

Nico looked up at her a bit incredulously. "I'm ... borrowing trouble? Do you have any idea what kind of trouble I'm in?"

Riko shook her head. "None, until you are. So talk."

"It's obvious - they're hinting that they know I'm a Love Live idol - that they know who I am - and maybe even that they know who you are."

"It wasn't obvious to me, sempai. You are letting your fears destroy you. Even if the worst is true, you have options."

Nico didn't raise her head, but shook it. "I haven't got any. They can destroy me with a word."

"Perhaps they can, perhaps they can't. Sempai takes roles and does songs - from what you said on the train - for their own sake, not because they make Nico-sempai a fortune. True?"

Nico said nothing for a while. Then, "Yes, true, mostly."

"And Nico-sempai would send her family almost all her spare funds, if I know you."

"Yes, and that's a good thing? I can't even pay them hush money!"

"Ah, but you see, sempai, since I had my heart broken, I realized having nothing to lose is very powerful."

Nico didn't raise her head, but the set of her shoulders said she was very dubious about that.

"For instance, this note says they gave extra plum wine to me, an underage girl. Why would an inn for couples do that? Also, blackmail and extortion are crimes. Probably as serious as a 25-year-old coming here with a 16-year-old. And, for instance, if we clearly tell them that Nico-chan has no money, then the situation becomes very different. Sempai has nothing but her career. If they take that away, sempai has nothing to lose putting them in prison for blackmail and extortion and corrupting minors and so on. And they should be made aware of that. Hide the note somewhere deep in your luggage, sempai. Do it now, because you need to be doing things." With that, she released Nico and handed her the note.

She saw that Nico followed her instructions. Apparently, Nico's bras all had a compartment in them. She'd definitely have to ask about that in sunnier bra was put back in the bottom of Nico's bag.

"Are you a little less shaken, sempai?" Riko decided to ask. She didn't get a response.

"Well, even if you aren't, I want to say you're making a lot of leaps to the worst, here."

She ticked off the possibilities.

"First, it could be a sincere and well-intended note, and mean exactly what it says."

"Secomd, it could be they guessed we were Love Live-ers, but think we are both still in high school. That would be the kind of singing contest we cited when we explained why we needed to come here."

"Third, it could be they watched the recent Love Live!, know who I am, and have no idea who sempai is."

"Fourth, they could be teasing us, true, but gently, given our cover story. They clearly saw through it immediately, hence the room, hence the alcove - why not, hence the note?"

"Fifth, sempai could be right, but when informed - perhaps obliquely - of sempai's poverty, they'll leave us alone."

"I haven't gotten to the end-of-the-world possibility you jumped too, sempai, because I ran out of fingers. I think mine are more likely."

Nico just looked at her. Fine.

"But I am going to find out, and now. If you're right, we need to act fast, anyway. And if you're wrong, as I believe, then I don't want even one extra minute of needless sadness and terror for Nico-chan."

She decided to give Nico a chance to express her feelings.

"Does Nico-sempai think that actually checking this out will make her even more hopeless?"

* * *

The girl asked her if checking out Nico's fears would actually really make things worse. They probably couldn't get worse, so, put that way, no. Nico shook her head.

Riko slipped on a pair of geta and left the room.

Nico missed her instantly.

* * *

It didn't take long for Riko to locate the woman who'd checked them in. Riko was good with names, she thought this woman was named Yuriko, and she couldn't remember her family name. Start with that.

"Pardon me, Yuriko-san," she said, getting the woman's attention. "It's terrible, but I have forgotten your surname."

"Just Yuriko is fine," she replied. She was smiling. Of course, that meant nothing, as a smile could be for bad reasons as well as good.

"Yuriko-san, then. Umm, a note was left for us, we believe." She didn't hide the fact that that was a troubling thing.

"I must explain. The note, I think, I hope, was not intended to have the effect it had. My sempai is in our room and I am going to go back and check on her in a minute because I am not sure she won't harm herself."

The woman looked shocked. It could be a front.

"She is crying and shaking. She wants to go home but she really just wants her visit here to be a bad dream."

Now, she really looked shocked.

"Sempai is graduating. We are both school idols, and she has had offers from agencies that employ professional idols. They are somewhat phony - officially you cannot date until your career is over. She has never dated anyone before me, not ever. Whoever wrote that note clearly realized we are together in that way. Also, the agencies can be very reactionary. None of them wants to hire a lesbian idol."

The woman started to speak, and Riko rudely interrupted her and kept talking.

"She is from a very desperately poor family, with just one parent. Though she has always worked, all the money went to the family. She couldn't even pay for her travel to auditions or contests. These opportunities are all she's ever had. Ever. They're her whole life."

The woman finally interjected, "What does that have to do with the note?"

"The note dropped a lot of hints, and she's a very astute girl. She thinks it was an oblique threat, to expose her, ruin her career. And if so, she has absolutely nothing to pay to prevent that. If that were really the case, it would amount to pointless, sadistic cruelty and villainy. I wouldn't put up with it, I'd see to it that whoever would do something like that would suffer ten-fold."

Riko paused and sighed. "If, as I hope, she is worrying too much, I wish someone would explain it, and moreover, give some sort of assurance. I am at my wit's end, and our trip is ruined already."

Riko suddenly marched off, back in the direction of their room


	4. Save Me, Riri!

Yuriko stood there stunned, for a few minutes. Then she dragged herself to her room, to think. She felt almost as bad as the younger girl said her sempai did.

If it was as the girl had said, and the older girl was from a desperately poor family, it would follow that this was her one indulgence in her high school years - and this "first time" trip was their honeymoon. No doubt she'd been proud and happy to be doing this. And Yuriko had ruined it completely. And frightened her mortally. And depressed the girl so thoroughly, all her happiness had fled. To amuse herself. And she'd been plugging for them, yet she'd done more damage in a short time than any bully at their school who said, "Eww, they're both girls!" could have. Looking back, the sempai wouldn't see her Riko's eyes or remember their mutual joy. She'd remember being terrified out of her wits, and certain she'd been ruined by a malevolent innkeeper. The whole event would leave a taste of bile in her mouth. Yuriko's failure was total.

Just before they'd arrived, hadn't she been reflecting that her talents were wasted at a ryokan? That she needed to be managing a medium-sized hot springs resort, back in Hokkaido where they came from? What an unfunny joke that seemed now. She had been better at this as a nakai.

With determination, she placed a call. "I need help, please come." She'd reached her voicemail. Sometimes on these trips, she turned in early.

Yuriko lay down but she tossed and turned until her phone rang. "I'm on my way, on a train. Fill me in. I'm leaving the car at the resort."

* * *

When Riko came back, she found Nico where she'd left her. Still huddled and shaking and crying. She sat next to her and held her.

"Listen, Nico," she said softly. "I am even more convinced you are borrowing trouble now that I have talked to the woman that checked us in. Okay?"

All she got in response was a head shake. It was becoming frustrating, but she realized just how sad and frightened Nico had become, so she let it go, and tried again.

"Listen, Nico," she began again. "It's important that you not say ANYTHING beyond what I've already said. I told her that the hotel staff had correctly guessed that we were a couple, that I was your first girlfriend, that we were in school idol contests, that you give all your money to your poor family and your single mom, that you are afraid they were hinting they'd expose you and destroy your career, and that idol agencies, which have given you offers, don't want anyone dating and they don't want lesbians. All true, right?"

Nico nodded.

"I also said if I was wrong and you were right, not only wouldn't it accomplish anything, but we'd have nothing to lose by counter-exposure. So, that's where I left it. But honestly, when I told them how devastated you were, I think that woman wrote the note, to begin with, and I think she was completely horrified. I asked her to give us some sort of reassurance, and said our trip was ruined. We'll see where it goes from here, SEMPAI. Please remember that's who you are. If you show confidence, Nico-chan, things will work out, no matter what's going on. The only person who can harm you in this situation is yourself."

Nico still didn't look up. But Riko wasn't quite finished.

"I think they are good people here, Nico. We can even make friends and continue to enjoy our stay, if I am right. Assuming the worst will cause the worst. Can you trust me? You already admitted that you saw no way out given your interpretation, right?"

Nico nodded. She looked up, still white faced and eyes filled with tears. Rico held her and kissed her, gently. She whispered in her ear, "Then play along, and if they offer a sign of friendship, take it."

Finally, Nico's nodded acceptance satisfied her.

* * *

Nico didn't believe or disbelieve Riko at this point. She was simply exhausted. Fear and shock had taken it out of her, and she almost just wanted to curl into a ball and not come out. Riko had just gone to the toilet when Nico heard a knock. She had kind of promised Riko she'd play along, she thought, vaguely, so she answered it. The woman that had checked them in was standing there, visibly upset.

"I am so very sorry, Takami-san. I promise you, I swear, I meant no harm - none at all. Umm, however, there is someone else who is better at this sort of thing - much, much better than I am - and she will give both of you whatever assurances you need. She's on her way here. And ... and ... well ..."

Nico heard the outer door open and footsteps approaching them. A beautiful older woman marched up to them, looked Nico over, then glared at the other woman.

"YURIKO, YOU IDIOT!"

* * *

 **Notes:**

 **I am exaggerating the situation greatly, but my goal in these last two chapters was to highlight how much Japanese operates by suggestion instead of being direct. Most Japanese are skilled at inferring points from rather vague suggestions. A note like the one I had Yuriko write wouldn't raise any hackles in America, for instance, but given Nico's precarious life, the consequent paranoia, and that tendency in Japanese communication, this is the result you get. It's not really fair to Yuriko, honestly, but there it is.**

 **By the way, speaking of this, I saw a manga or anime or something the other day (I forget what it was) and it invoked the hoary tradition (at least according to Soseki Natsume) that in Japanese one way to confess your love is to say the moon is so lovely. One character said precisely that to another character, then was puzzled why everyone stared at her. I think that was a joke aimed at my generation, not the current generation.**


	5. Peace of Mind

**Summary:**

 _One crisis resolves, another one begins_

 **Chapter 5: Peace of Mind**

"Riri-chan!" Yuriko cried. Her tears were flowing freely, but she was clearly afraid to even seek solace by hugging the woman.

That woman, apparently named Riri, rectified the situation. She grabbed the innkeeper and hugged her and said, over and over, that she'd be fine. Then when the younger woman had calmed down a little, she lifted her head and looked her in the eyes.

"Listen, Yuriko. I do want you to learn from this. But I don't want you to learn too much, or learn the wrong things. Understand?" The other woman nodded, still crying. "Can you have faith in my judgment? That you're better than you think, right now?" Yuriko looked dubious about that. "Just have faith, baby. Things will be okay. All right?" Finally, she got a small nod.

She turned to Nico. "I am Nishiyama Riri. As my partner said, I will fix things up here. You and I should talk, Takami-san. Privately. Then all four of us can talk, and I will make things right, I promise. I know you are under a great strain, right now, but this will help. Please do me the favor and honor of talking with me?"

Nico was in no mood for more complexity, to be honest. But the almost childlike faith the innkeeper had in this woman somehow tugged at her — it hadn't escaped Nico's notice that the younger of the two women looked like Nico felt. Probably, Riko was right about that much. It could still be that the woman had been hinting at what Nico thought she was hinting, but was regretting it. Some of Riko's points about how unwise it would be still applied. And, of course, Riko could be completely right. Nico wanted to put her faith in the girl, and if that was so, her course was clear.

She nodded. "For … for Riko, if nothing else. I agree."

The older Nishiyama turned to her partner.

"Yuriko, go get a table ready for the four of us. I won't detain Takami-san very long. We'll be in the office. And look more cheerful. Smiling through your tears is job #1 right now." Nico was shocked to see that she actually winked at Yuriko. Even more surprisingly, that woman looked as shocked as Nico. The funny thought occurred to her that she and Yuriko might have a lot in common. And if so, even weirder, perhaps Riko and Riri had a lot in common, too. At least in dealing with her and Yuriko. But that was a crazy thought, and Nico had to wipe her eyes and put her yukata in order. Yuriko departed, looking quite a bit less dejected, and they headed for the ryokanoffice. Riko was still in the toilet, but no doubt the innkeeper would explain things to her.

* * *

"Takami-san."

Nico looked at the older woman.

"When I met Yuriko, she was a 16-year-old nakai at my favorite onsen, and I was a 25-year-old domestic travel writer. We've been married for a few years. In Hokkaido, where we're both from. She'd been working at the onsen since she was thirteen, and I'd had my eye on her for a couple of years. Our first time was in the baths. Before that, I was a womanizer. She wasn't my first nakai, just my last. I've never regretted it. Her dream is to manage an onsen, and she wasn't thrilled over managing a ryokan for such an extended period first. This situation has certainly changed her outlook on that.

First things first, Takami-san. Do you have the note in question?"

Nico produced it without saying anything.

Nishiyama read it through twice. "Ah," was all she said at first. Then she turned and looked Nico in the eye again.

"Takami-san, my wife is very much always exactly as she appears. I agree there is a teasing tone to it that's not common to her. I think I can clear that up. What did you or Sakurauchi-san say when you booked the room?"

Nico explained, haltingly, that Riko had said they were stranded after a song competition.

"Ah. So you coming here wouldn't be suspicious, I assume. Hmmmm … hmmm … did Yuriko by chance see you two being more intimate than two schoolfriends would normally be? Like, when you checked in?"

"No," Nico replied. The woman looked disappointed. "I mean, yes, Riko kissed me suddenly when were still outside the gate, but not …"

"Ah," the other woman interrupted. "You weren't to know this, but actually that spot is back-lit by our ground lights. So Yuriko would have seen your silhouettes entwined in a kiss from the front window. So that is the whole explanation for the teasing tone of the note, I promise: she was teasing you over fibbing to her about your reason for coming here."

"And the rest of it," she continued, "is, actually, the usual couples things, to be honest. What went wrong here is, when it's a man and a woman, she assumes that often discretion is advised. We don't get a lot of female couples here. When she realized that was what she had, she unconsciously felt like you were on a more familiar basis, and discretion wasn't needed at all."

"In fact, I can assure you that the idea that she should honor your story and infer a need for discretion never even occurred to Yuriko. It wouldn't, with a female couple. The fault there is probably mine. Even though I was sleeping with an underage girl at her onsen, I was very open and unconcerned about it. She was for sure feeling nostalgic about our own time. In fact, she made lots of extra efforts on your part, because of that."

Nico almost felt like she had no choice but to believe her. Now, with chagrin, she realized that Riko was right: she'd taken a scary situation and made it terrifying. A savvy woman like this would have noticed that, even given Riko's explanation, Nico was overreacting.

"Takami-san, would you indulge me by listening to one more thing about Yuriko and me? I feel compelled to add it, and I think it might help."

Nico, still stunned, just nodded slightly.

"My wife and I have always loved the high-school idol acts, since even before we were married. In particular, seven or so years ago, we were great fans of the Love Live! competition. Our two favorites were a small girl with twin-tails and a redheaded beauty. They were quite often paired, and we felt like, as lesbians, we had an insight that the smaller girl had feelings for the other girl. And that they might even be returned. The redhead certainly blushed a great deal and stared at the little girl when she wasn't looking. So in addition to cheering for them to win, we were mostly cheering for that girl to win the heart of the redhead." She looked at Nico, and noticed that she was upset again. In fact, she'd gone back to trembling, and tears were welling up in her eyes again.

"Ah, Takami-san!" she exclaimed. "I only said Yuriko-chan was transparent and had nothing hidden in her message, not that I didn't notice more than she does. That is the very reason I told you, and repeated, how we got together. I thought that was clear. In fact, I am trying to say we've been on the side of that little twin-tailed girl, rooting for her, ever since we first saw her. We wish her nothing but success and the fulfillment of her dreams. Always. It's a little disappointing that she never did succeed with her love, did she? No, don't bother answering. From what I heard from Yuriko, she found someone caring and sensible to ease any heartbreak, and that's as much as any of us can expect, isn't it?"

Nico looked at her, cutely, helplessly. God, she was still so adorable! You're happily married, Riri! she scolded herself.

"I think I must be more direct: If Yuriko thinks anything along the lines you're probably thinking she does, it would be that you are Yazawa Cocoa, and you don't want a scandal for your sister. There. I've said it. She did say that you acted like you'd given a false name, and the other one didn't, and she mentioned that possibility."

So Nico had done it twice. Made the situation worse.

"I know that look, Takami-san. Yuriko gets it way too often. You are not to blame here. Girls like you have no confidence, however much you pretend to, or even put on airs. You need others to point out how wonderful you are. It breaks my heart, but there it is. Takami-san, how are you and Sakurauchi-san fixed for time? Could you stay here the whole week, if you wished to?"

Surprisingly, Nico was just how her weird, juggled sessions broke down this week. "Yes but … I … I couldn't answer for Riko." Face it, she really needed a break now.

"Understood. If she's amenable, I want you two to stay the whole week. Everything is on us, including today. I promise it will be a fun and relaxing week. It's kind of important that Takami-san " — she emphasized the name - "doesn't panic and say anything strange, though. You understand that?"

"Strange?" Nico wondered. Then she realized. Nothing more suspicious in front of Yuriko, was what this Nishiyama meant. She nodded. The older woman took this as agreement to everything.

"Takami-san, I don't like keeping things from Yuriko. So, in a couple of years - is two years too soon?" Nico held up three fingers. "Three, then. That will be the µ's reunion, right? And Sakurauchi will be 19 and a couple of years out of school. Understood. I'll say, 'Hey, Yuriko, you remember that contretemps in Heisei 30? And tell her all the details. She'll be a little miffed and stamp her foot, but she'll then forgive me and laugh. Things like this will give me some variety in the marriage to look forward to, also." Riri smiled.

* * *

"I can't answer for Maki, though," Riko was saying to Yuriko, back in their room. The innkeeper had suggested that she thought her wife would offer them a free week at the inn. "My friends will make excuses for me — they know I've been under incredible strain lately. Umm .. there isn't a piano or something like it here, is there?"

In fact, there was a big common room they'd never taken the turn to, at the ryokan, and it had a grand piano. Yuriko promised her she could compose on it. "It would add a great deal for the guests, and all I will say is that you are a composer and need to keep working even on your vacations."

Yuriko suggested that perhaps Riko's sempai, too, had friends who could cover for her, but Riko looked dubious. She almost thought of going and looking at Nico's calendar on her phone. The older woman had given Riko her password at some point in the process, and she'd committed it to memory immediately. In fact, she'd just gotten over to where it was, and was picking it up, when it rang. She didn't know what to do, so she just stared at it. At that point, she noticed it was also getting several texts - she could see the first part of the texts as they came in, and they all started out " **PICK UP THE PHONE NICO!** " οr " **ANSWER ME, NICO!** " οr " **PLEASE ANSWER NICO!"**

It was good that Riko was, basically, a stoic. She wouldn't have wanted to have dropped Nico's phone when she saw the ID of the caller:

 **Maki-chan**

Suddenly, Riko was seized with a conviction. Faced with this opportunity, there was only one thing to do. She was going to take this call.


	6. Better Together

**Summary:**

 _Old Maki and Young Maki square off over Nico._

 **Chapter 6: Better Together**

"Please tell me Nico is alive, whoever you are that is answering Nico's phone." The voice on the other end seemed frantic.

Rico was startled, but able to answer with her last name and the information that Nico was neither dead nor hospitalized. The conversation went downhill from there. Nishikino-san was clearly angry when Riko told her Nico couldn't answer her phone right now. Her explanation for how she even knew Nico was also not well-received.

"… So, my song is stupid. Is that right? Then why were you playing it in Akihabara, again?"

"I don't really know, Nishikino-san …"

"Exactly. When you play a song and you don't know why, it's not a stupid song. From the sound of things, you should actually understand it very well. It's not a la-la-la Polyanna song about love, it's saying love hurts. Love takes courage. Do you want to know the background?"

"Don't we have more urgent things …"

"Nope. So please listen, Sakurauchi-san. I had just finished middle school, I was looking over UTX in front of the marquee, and I met what I took to be a first-year middle schooler. She looked at me for a long time, then finally got up her courage to speak to me. She started rattling off information about the new school idol group at UTX, and also babbling about how any day now she'd have an idol group just as good. Pretty soon, she asked me a very personal question, namely, did I think it was weird if a girl suddenly decided she might like girls? Not asking for herself, but just a thought that had occurred to her. Well, I admit I had just been having the same thought, my last year in middle school, and looking at her more closely, she might even be a 5th or 6th year at elementary school, so I took pity on her. Are you with me so far, Sakurauchi-san?"

"Ye-es…" Riko said. She obviously knew who the girl was.

"There was something so fresh and alive about her enthusiasm, and it made her even cuter. Too cute. In a lot of ways, Honoka reminded me of her, later, when she wanted to recruit me to write songs for her and her friends. I even found myself thinking, whichever girl she had a crush on, I hope she appreciates this cute, earnest little thing. That very night, at home, I sketched out Aishiteru Banzai. It felt, a bit, like I was writing about me as well as the little girl from UTX. I even was honest enough with myself to admit I wished she was a bit older and about to go to UTX with me."

"But!" Riko couldn't help saying.

"Please stay with me, Sakurauchi-san. Well, my parents and principal Minami convinced me to go to Otonokizaka. By that point, the song meant a lot to me, and I thought of that girl whenever I played it. I was warming up for some composing by playing it when Honoka heard it. Later on, when Nico was so jealous and trying to sabotage our group, was when I found out I had met a high school second-year! So, instead of being precocious, she was maybe a little late in life to be realizing she liked girls. She recognized me, of course, and immediately started hugging me all the time. Just based on one meeting! Where we hadn't even done the basic courtesy of exchanging names.

You have to realize that everything had changed in my impression of her. Even if I wanted to have some sort of relationship with her beyond school, what kind it could be escaped me. Far from the enthusiastic, excited girl I had met, I saw this hikikomori and internet troll who didn't seem to be doing anything but throwing darts at people who could do things. Even setting that aside, come what may, we'd have less than a year to associate with each other. So, I wrote it off. I had written one song for her, and that would have to do."

"Ah," Riko said. Clearly, a lot of this phone call was going to be Nishikino-sempai telling her, Riko, the facts of life.

"So now, we can get to what you want to talk about - why am I calling, what are my intentions. A and B. Am I right?"

"Yes, very much so."

"Okay, since you didn't immediately say Nico is in the hospital or anything, I will assume she's physically unharmed?"

"Well, yes, but."

"Why I called? It's irrational, but I felt like Nico was in mortal terror. That's, honestly, why I called immediately."

"Ah. Really?" They were that much in tune? After all that time? None of this was making sense. "Umm … that is amazing."

"So, it's true? Then, is she safe, physically, after all?"

"Well, yes, merely terrified."

"So it's 'merely terrified,' is it? I never knew Nico to get as upset as it felt in my gut she was over a spider in the kitchen. She probably has a good reason."

"Well, yes, but."

"Wait, are you her girlfriend? Ah .. wait a second.

… Are you the Sakurauchi Riko of Aqours, by any chance? You'd almost have to be."

"This is Sakurauchi Riko, yes, and yes, pretty much her girlfriend …."

"I sense a big 'however' there, Sakurauchi."

"Well, it's very new and I am just now getting over a heartbreak over the leader of Aqours. And this is Nico's first time dating, as well as mine. I give you one guess who she's been obsessing over."

"Ah." It was Maki's turn.

"And the reason she's terrified is that we are at a ryokan together and I am underage and she thinks the innkeeper here is going to blackmail her, and I don't think that's true at all."

"All the more reason for me to talk to her, then. I can give her peace of mind on some things that have, no doubt, been distressing her. Sakurauchi — Riko — can you promise me you won't try to go after your group leader again and leave Nico stranded?"

"I don't think it's likely, but at this point? I can't promise anything, truthfully."

"Then, as for my intentions, I can't promise you anything, either, Riko. You might as well get Nico. Sooner or later, I'll get through to her, and it would be better if you are honest with her the whole way through."

Riko paused. She was, in fact, tempted to hang up, clear the call out of the list, and go back and deal with one crisis at a time. If, in fact, Maki could reassure Nico where Riko had failed, after seven years apart, that was fairly depressing, and didn't bode well for their new relationship, no matter how you looked at it. But the former idol was correct: eventually, she'd reach Nico, and it wouldn't help if Riko had lied about it.

"Yes," she said, resigned.

* * *

When they got to the little dining nook where the four of them were to meet, Riko was waiting at the entrance with Nico's phone.

"Nishikino-san is on the phone. She called because she was worried about you. She sent a lot of frantic texts, too. That's why I took the call. " That was all Riko said, as she handed it to Nico.

"M-Maki-ch-chan?" Nico heard herself stuttering and couldn't bring herself to care.

"Nico-chan!" she heard. "Please tell me you're okay, baby." Since when did Maki talk like this to Nico? She seemed extremely worried.

"I have to speak privately," Nico said to the other three, apologetically. She left, not seeing Riko's crestfallen expression.

After she closed the door, she told Maki she was upset, but physically unharmed.

"The new girl - that Aqours girl - she told me most of it. Can you tell me what the note said, honey?" There it was, again.

Nico summarized it for Maki, who said "Let me think, and don't say anything for a second, okay, Nico-tan?"

After a very long pause, Maki said, "I agree with the girl. I know how much all this means to you, honestly I do. I am so, so sorry you had to go through this. Ummmm I had another reason to call. I felt like I could feel your fear, to be honest, Nico. And it made me think, what if something happened to you before I could tell you all the things I was keeping from you? Would I ever have peace of mind again?"

Nico waited, then said, "Umm what things, Maki-chan?"

"Well, first of all, you were right. All those years ago. I wanted to say yes. I wanted to be with you. All those cruel things I said - well there was truth under most of them, but it wasn't how I felt, it was how I thought I could convince you to give up on me."

Nico told Maki she had to sit down. She did so, on the floor, with her back against the wall by the doorway.

"Nico, I was **fifteen**. Well, barely sixteen when I actually broke your heart, but the point stands. Whenever I tried to picture our future together, now that you were back on track to do what you loved, it was one nightmare after another. We couldn't possibly go to the same school after Otonokizaka, but you weren't even necessarily going to go to school, let alone planning to, say, go to a school that suited you that would be in the same region as one I could go to and not get disowned. I always saw you trying to juggle us and that and everything and failing. And you might even blame me. And I would have to juggle everything too, and we might both fail, and might both blame each other. I thought - no, I knew - you'd hate me for how I rejected you, but that was better than us ending up hating each other."

Nico didn't know how to feel. Not at all.

"Nico honey, the girl. Is she good to you? Does she make you happy, baby?"

"She is good to me, and I think I am happier than I was, if that makes any sense."

"Yeah, it does. Too much. Ummm ... look. About us."

Nico had an immediate lump in her throat. Us?

"The reunion is in three years, but practice will probably start the fall before that, if I know Umi, Eli and Honoka as well as I think I do. And we may meet up sometimes before that. We should also keep in touch from now on. At least once a month I want some communication from you, and I'll do the same. The way we sometimes avoided each other is actually more telling than if we'd stayed close, you know."

Nico started to promise she'd do that. She didn't know or want to analyze why she felt disappointed.

"But that's dodging the subject, I know it is. You have a girlfriend now - finally. My parents are making me go to o-miais. But everything is uncertain, isn't it? I've discussed this with the girl. If you end up breaking up with her before the reunion, and I am not engaged or something, then let's agree to meet up and try to work our relationship out. Is that okay?"

"Ye-yes." Face it, Nico couldn't say no to that.

"And at the reunion, we'll have a heart-to-heart conversation, just the two of us. Anything before that would be unfair to Sakurauchi. I'm going to be selfish, and tell you this straight out, though: it's not for sure that that group leader Chika won't come after her, after all, someday. Or that she'll stick with you if she does. Are you aware of that?"

Well, Nico was quite aware of that. It wasn't disloyal to admit that to Maki, just factual.

"Or that I wont have a change of heart and beg you to leave her for me, if I am going to continue being honest. Or that you'd refuse me if it happened in reality. So she's in much the same situation as you, I think. We'll all be in limbo for two or three years. I think that's inescapable. But I couldn't live with myself any longer, thinking of you suffering and thinking you'd been to blame or you were crazy back then. So, I wanted to get some peace of mind, for both of us. I really did love you, Nico, and I think I always will, to a degree. But I also feel like I did so much to you that I no longer really have the right to just swoop in and claim you. I really want you to do what's best for your heart, Nico, even if it isn't with me. You don't think of yourself enough, that way, and it's going to hurt you in the long run. I want you to be happy and healthy, no matter what. Also, I have followed your career, and everything you've done, ever since you graduated. That's why you saw me twice at dramas you were starring in. Rin and Hanayo picked up on that, but they don't blab to the others. Sometimes, they bugged me about you, but I'd point out what I'd said and done, and they'd grudgingly agree I might be right not to do anything now."

So that's why Rin and Hanayo both brought up Maki all the time to Nico. It wasn't careless insensitivity, it was a hint. Oh.

"I think you're right, Maki-chan, but now I have to have another talk with Riko. I hope it doesn't spoil our week here. We both agreed to an extra week here, on them, and I want it to be nice and relaxing for both of us."

"Then tell her as much as you see fit, and in whatever way you think is best, Nico," Maki suggested. "You will always have my love with you, and I mean by that, I will always be happy knowing you're still in the world, and doing okay. All right?"

Nico started to cry, and Maki obviously heard her. "It's okay, Nico. I'm crying too. You should go talk to Rico. I won't say 'goodbye,' just 'talk to you later.'

"Talk to you later, Maki-chan."

"Talk to you later, Nico-chan."

* * *

When Nico came back, it was pretty clear they'd had the kind of conversation Riko was dreading. She had to be fair, so she imagined what she'd have said if Chika had been calling her, while Riko was having a crisis. If she'd broken up with You over Riko, and was begging her to come back. Seen through that lens, the NicoRiko relationship was all too fragile. In fact, if they hadn't been tried by fire here, she thought she'd have simply bitten the bullet and told Nico goodbye. Not without some goodbye sex, if possible, she acknowledged. She really, really liked sex with Nico. And she had no experience to tell her if it was simply that she really liked sex. But now - now they'd been through something. And they'd pulled through together, as a unit. She'd seen Nico at her most vulnerable, and it was, frankly, adorable. If this was Nico saying goodbye, she'd be rude and put up a fight.

It wasn't, but it wasn't perfect either. Well, what had been, so far? They were cobbling love together with the crumbly remains of two pure hearts, after all. The first good sign was Nico agreeing to stay the rest of the week with her. It was miraculous she had, or could make, the time. And it promised at least a week of goodbye sex, if that's where everything was heading. Riko was learning to make the most of what life gave her. It looked like Nico was, too. They had a long conversation with the innkeeping couple, and Riko sussed out that the younger woman thought "Takami Maki" was really Nico's little sister, Cocoa. So, she wasn't a complete airhead after all. And her wife clearly knew the whole story, and was eager to reassure Nico, so that was fine.

But when they got back to the room, Nico detailed her conversation with Maki. What an idiot the Nishikino girl was! Well, to be fair she'd been a bit younger than Riko was, now, almost a year. Riko didn't feel in a mood to be too fair, but she had a suspicion she might have fared as poorly in such a high-pressure situation. Still ... when Nico rather bluntly passed on Maki's observation that the three of them would be in limbo for a while because of Nico's and Riko's mixed feelings and equally mixed loyalties, that was disconcerting. She had to console herself with the fact that, for now, Nico was sticking with her. Again, she tried to be fair. She could easily see herself torn between Chika and Nico if the situation had evolved in that direction. Even if she left for Chika, she'd have regrets. Either way, she would. That was obviously Maki's point: they'd have regrets no matter what happened.

Then Nico brought her musing to a halt.

"But I am not sure why you'd put up with me, Riko-chan. I mean, you're super-beautiful, talented. You've already said you'd be content with someone like Yoshiko-chan - that she reminds you of me - and she doesn't have my baggage. So, why ..."

"That is an easy one, sempai," Riko said. She was speaking without thinking, but it was something she'd already mulled over enough, unconsciously. "For whatever reason, you and I are better together than apart. I was all unhappy, and you made me happy. And I did the same for you. We shouldn't poison that, at least for now, by worrying about the future excessively."

Nico took that in. "Then, how should we do this?" she wondered.

"Well, make love a lot. That part isn't optional, sempai. I even want you "visiting" Uranohoshi to "congratulate us" and "consult" with me. I will have my very most discreet friends arrange a place we can have sex, right at the school. I will also visit my relatives and friends a lot, and slip over to your apartment, late at night." Nico just stared at her.

"And music. Let's make music together. I told you, you are inspiring me. I am going to say that, plainly, to Aqours. Nothing that gives anything away. Just say that we met at Akihabara when I was composing and inspired each other, and you generously offered to advise me." She grinned.

It sounded like a great farewell to the idol world to Nico. She started to picture it. Hot little girlfriend, musical prodigy. She wouldn't have to sacrifice anything much to ease the terrible, cold loneliness she now admitted was second nature to Nico by this point. And three years wasn't just a reunion; it was probably just enough time for Chika and You to figure out if they really were lovers, or better off as friends. Reevaluating everything around then would probably have happened anyway - they were just sort of formalizing it. After all, knowing her own feelings for You, Chika had still basically confessed to Riko, and her explanation seemed a little incomplete. Nico had noticed definite harem-building tendencies in Kousaka Honoka - more than once. Perhaps it ran with the idol leader personality. The Maki-poaching Kira Tsubasa certainly had it. Nico was, to be honest, much more of a solo idol, unless the group was as special as µ's had been.

Suddenly, a thought must have occurred to Riko. She excused herself, and said she had to make a quick phone call as she was walking away.

When she came back, she was smirking.

"Who were you talking to, Riko-chan?" Nico asked, puzzled.

"Maki-chan, in fact!" Riko answered, still smirking. What the hell?

"And ..." Riko continued. "She doesn't want Nico-chan doing nude scenes, ever, either. Especially with men! That's a big ewww for both of us! So Nico-chan has no choice, either way."

Riko laughed at the expression on Nico's face. As absurd as it might seem, she and her older version might end up being friends, after all of this resolved itself, either way. Then, as she observed Nico relaxing and trustingly cuddling up to her, instinctively, and Yuriko doing the same with Riri, the latter looked back and winked at Riko. And maybe not just Maki, she thought to herself. Against all the odds, she could repeat to herself the fantasy she'd had when she proposed this to Nico, but now with conviction. Best trip, ever.

 **Notes:**

 **I hope people enjoyed reading this as much as I did writing it. I am glad a conclusion came to me before it meandered around too much. I like it when a story is just the right length, and this one was.**

* * *

 **Yuriko and Riri Nishizawa were inspired quite loosely by Ichi and Yamamoto from Amano Shuninta's debut work, _Yukemuri Sanctuary_. It's better drawn and written than most pros' work ever gets, like a lot of Amano-sensei's work, so I'd recommend it. Obviously, I am giving Ichi a MUCH more romantic ending than she has in that work. In Amano-sensei's work, she's only 14 when the (quite a bit) older woman does her in the hot springs, in case you think I'm pushing it in my story with her being only 16. Then again, perhaps "uh, she was 16!" is only what they later agreed to say was the age, even in my version. After all, that's somewhat what Nico and Riko are planning to claim - that Riko was 18 when they got together - in my story.**

 **"Yuri"(ko) and "Lily" as names I would assume is an obvious choice. At the time I picked their last name, I had some reference reasons involving kanji readings and connections to Love Live! and the story in mind, but they must not have been any good, as I cannot recall them. Nishiyama is not an uncommon name at all.**


End file.
